HudsonAlpha Institute for Biotechnology has been selected as one of 39 teams nationwide to receive an Experiential Learning for Emerging and Novel Technologies (ExLENT) grant.

The Institute’s Educational Outreach program will use this funding over the next three years to enhance STEM education for middle and high school students in the local community.

“This grant provides an exceptional chance for our Education program to deliver transformative STEM education to students throughout Huntsville and Madison County in a unique and impactful way,” said Kelly East, Vice President of Educational Outreach at HudsonAlpha. “We are deeply grateful to the National Science Foundation for their support, as well as to our local school system partners. We are eager to help students unlock their potential and access new STEM opportunities.”

The grant will support two key experiential learning initiatives in genomics and biotechnology.

It will continue the LABS (Launching Aspiring Biotechnology Students) program, a year-long initiative designed to equip high school students with biotech skills, scientific knowledge, and confidence in laboratory work.

Additional funding will also be used to provide greater support for participants, particularly aiming to reduce barriers for underrepresented students.

LABS is open to all high school students in the North Alabama region.

In addition, the grant will fund the creation of a new program called SPARK, targeting middle school students. SPARK aims to build biotech skills, scientific understanding, and confidence in STEM through a month-long after-school club for 7th and 8th graders.

The program will be hosted on local middle school campuses, with all participating students invited to a capstone experience at HudsonAlpha’s campus the following summer.

“We’re thrilled to launch this innovative program that expands STEM experiences at the middle school level,” East added. “A crucial element of SPARK is to involve students in authentic experiments that contribute to ongoing research at HudsonAlpha. These students will engage in real scientific work alongside our research scientists.”

Over the next three years, SPARK will be introduced in eight schools within Huntsville City and Madison County Schools, with a focus on providing STEM opportunities to underrepresented students.

If the program proves successful, there are plans to expand it to more schools and districts in the future.

This marks HudsonAlpha’s second ExLENT grant.

ExLENT is an NSF initiative that funds experiential learning programs across three tracks: explorations, beginnings, and pivots. The current project falls under the Explorations Track.

Last year, HudsonAlpha received a Beginnings Track grant to develop the Biotech Launch program.